Elerium Effect
by Martenzo
Summary: After defeating the Ethereals, humanity swiftly advanced onward. While much was changed by the First Contact War, much remained the same. Humans could still find reasons to fight among themselves, even as ambition drove them to reach out for the stars. All under the vigilant eyes of the enigmatic and mythical X-COM organization. Then, in 2157, Second Contat was made.


**UPDATE, 22.06.2014: The timeline has been significantly tweaked and a number of adjustments were made to the infodump sections.**

**Prologue  
History, Part I  
**

* * *

The door to the Commander's office opens with a quiet hiss and a woman steps into the room after a moment of hesitation. There is noone here besides the woman, of course, and the room almost entirely plain, with only a large desk roughly in the center of the room, a screen on the wall behind it and five chairs in front of it. The commander's office aboard XDN Gaia has never been used before. All the previous commanders of X-COM have led the organization from Central, back on Earth.

Though her presence in the room has automatically activated the lights, the room remains dimly lit. A reminder that it's currently nighttime aboard the ship. After pausing for a moment, the woman decides against overriding the lights manually. She approaches the commander's chair and with a deep breath, almost a sigh, she takes the seat.

"Greetings, Acting Commander." the synthesized, masculine voice of the VI greets the woman as she activates the commander's computer integrated into the desk. For a moment, a frown appears on the woman's face "I'm not speaking to the standard X-COM VI, am I?"

"Correct, Commander." the VI replies "This is not Confidence. This is Vigilance, I am exclusively dedicated to be the assistant of the X-COM commander."

After two seconds of silence, Vigilance continues. "This is the first time you have logged in with your current clearance level. As Commander, all information in the database is at your disposal. Do you want me to recommend a list of files for review, Commander?"

"Very well, Vigilance." the woman replies. Immediately, holographic screens appear in front of her. On the central screen, a short list of file links is displayed:

_Historical Timeline  
X-COM Base Assets  
X-COM Fleet Assets  
X-COM Personnel Assets  
Classified Projects  
Intel Reports: Systems Alliance  
Intel Reports: Citadel Council  
Intel Reports: Non-Council X-Rays_

Before she can select one, Vigilance speaks up "You may notice that there are redactions in certain files, Commander. While you have full access, the unredacted versions of those files are not present in the primary database and need to be retrieved separately from the archive."

The woman nods in acknowledgement as she chooses where to begin.

_Those who fail to remember the past, live without a future._

She recalls the favorite quote of the previous... no. She's only Acting Commander, the woman reminds herself. The Commander may be unreachable, but he's not dead. Instead of reviewing X-COM resources, she opens the timeline, which opens in one of the smaller side screens.

And the timeline page appears the side screen is just slightly too small, as the there's a need to scroll down to see the last few notable events. Not that she really needs to see to know what's there, having been part of those events.

* * *

**Historical Timeline**

CE 2011-2013: First Contact War   
CE 2011: Earliest reports of Ethereal incursion. Reports dismissed at the time.  
CE 2012: (December)X-COM established. [REDACTED] appointed as Commander-1  
CE 2013: (January)X-COM begins counter-alien operations; (June)Operation: Slingshot; China leaves Council  
CE 2014; (August)Russia and India leave Council (December)Operation: Avenger  
CE 2015-2019: Contact Aftermath Period  
CE 2020-2040: Early Solar Colonization Period  
CE 2020: The Meld Disaster; The Gene Purge  
CE 2026: X-COM Dissolution Crisis; [REDACTED] appointed as Commander-2  
CE 2033-2038: Russian Civil War Intervention  
CE 2041-2055: Late Solar Colonization Period  
CE 2042: [REDACTED] appointed as Commander-3  
CE 2050-2056: Euro-American Colonial Conflict  
CE 2056-2099: First Expansion Period   
CE 2056: Discovery of the Mass Effect   
CE 2092: Construction of XDN Cronus begins  
CE 2075: [REDACTED] appointed as Commander-4  
CE 2098-2100: Arcturus Colonial Insurrection   
CE 2100-2150: Early Alliance Period   
CE 2100: Formation of the Systems Alliance  
CE 2101: [REDACTED] appointed as Commander-5  
CE 2129: XDN Cronus completed.  
CE 2138: [REDACTED] appointed as Commander-6  
CE 2150-2170: Second Expansion Period  
CE 2150: Colony of Shanxi is established.  
CE 2157: Second Contact; Relay 314 Incident; Construction of XDN Gaia beings.  
CE 2157: Systems Alliance establishes formal diplomatic relations with the Citadel Council  
CE 2160: Systems Alliance becomes a client state of the Citadel Council  
CE 2169: [REDACTED] appointed as Commander-7  
CE 2170-Present: Recent History  
CE 2170: Batarian Pirate Attack on Mindoir  
CE 2171: XDN Gaia completed.  
CE 2176: The Skyllian Blitz  
CE 2178: Torfan Retaliation Attack  
...

* * *

**First Contact War **(2011-2013)

_[Clearance Level: WHITE] _

The First Contact War (FCW) was fought between humanity and the enigmatic Ethereal species and their servants. The earliest Ethereal incursions to Earth occurred in 2011, but were dismissed at the time. While many human military entities were involved in the war, the X-COM organization, created in response to alien incursion, was the only group to have carried out successful operations against the invaders.

Despite the eventual victory, X-COM did suffer a number of setbacks during the war. The most notable failure was Operation: Slingshot. Directly as a result of Operation: Slingshot, China withdrew its' support of X-COM in April. In addition, X-COM had no successful interceptions of Battleship-class UFOs over the duration of the war. Only two were ever encountered, the first during Operation: Slingshot and the second (UFO-19) two months later over India. The attempt to intercept UFO-19 resulted in the only lost X-COM Interceptor of the FCW.

As the war escalated, the amount of Ethereal incursions began to outpace X-Com's ability to respond, leading to India and Russia withdrawing their support in September.

After having developed several new technologies and eventually reverse-engineering most of the Ethereal technologies, X-COM ultimately repelled the invasion by boarding their mothership during Operation: Avenger and triggering a self-destruct mechanism.

See Also: Unsolved Mysteries  
See Also: FCW Technological Advances

_[Clearance Level: BLACK] _

Independent paramilitary organization EXALT also carried out several successful operations against Ethereal forces and were actually the first to discover the psychic potential of some humans (See Operation: Progeny). EXALT operations were permanently crippled when their headquarters in Brazil were stormed and destroyed on August 13, 2013. All known remnants of EXALT were tracked down and captured or killed by X-COM following the war.

_[Clearance Level: EYES ONLY:COMMANDER] _

The self-destruction of the Ethereal mothership during Operation Avenger was not triggered by X-COM operatives. See Operation: Avenger for details.

* * *

**X-COM Divisional Structure**

_[Clearance Level: WHITE]_

Following the First Contact War, X-COM's original _ad hoc_ structure was reorganized into a number of divisions and a clearer rank hierarchy was established that included all X-COM personnel. Most notably, the institution of this hierarchy meant that there was a very resilient line of succession for all command positions of X-COM that could eventually pass down to even the lowest-ranked janitors and security troops.

White Division:  
White division includes unspecialized maintenance workers and office personnel, as well as base security troops. Because of this, some see White division as 'secondary personnel', but the people who think this usually forget that White Division also includes all X-COM pilots and starship crews except commanders and marine detail.

Green Division:  
Green division includes engineering and construction personnel, as well as a number of maintenance positions that require specialized training and education.

Blue Division:  
Blue division consists entirely of science and medical personnel.

Violet Division:  
Violet division is made up of psionic operatives. All X-COM recruits and existing personnel that are discovered to have Psi-3 rating are transferred to this division. It is by far the smallest division of X-COM. Violet division operatives are often deployed to missions alongside Black division.

A fairly recent development is the addition of Biotic operatives into Violet division.

Black Division:  
Black division consists of the elite combat personnel that are deployed to missions, as well as command and communication officers in X-COM bases.

Divisonal Clearance levels:

Typically, a division is cleared to know information of its' own level and below. White is the lowest level, Green and Blue make up the second level, Violet and Black are the highest. However, certain information marked with the -EX suffix is exclusive to that division, and need-to-know for all other divisions, including those formally higher in the hierarchy.

_[Clearance Level: EYES ONLY:COMMANDER] _

The Commander's position is above the division hierarchy and is cleared to know all X-COM information. However, unredacted reports are often archived in long-term storage servers and need to be accessed separately.

* * *

_'Where did that file pop up from?' _The commander thought to herself before closing it and moving on to the information she actually wanted to see.

* * *

**Operation Avenger**

_[Clearance Level: EYES ONLY:COMMANDER] _

(most of the file consists of a routine debriefing of how the mission progressed: order and paths of advancement, sequence of shots fired and X-Rays killed. However, there are a few sections of note)

Mission Operatives:  
Col. Anette Durand/Vendetta (Psi Support(GModded); Gollop Volunteer; Squad Leader): Presumed KIA  
Col. Karin Haas/Solo (Sniper(GModded)): Wounded  
Col. Fatima Tariq/Sync-One (Psi Assault): Wounded  
Col. Ahmed Tariq/Sync-Two (Psi Heavy): Wounded  
Col. Arthur King/Loki (Sniper(GModded) ): Gravely Wounded  
Col. Konstantin Ivanov/Prophet (MEC-trooper; MEC-3 Paladin): Wounded

...Sync-One: "Operation Avenger was strange from the moment we touched down in the mothership. For one, there was a psionic background field of some kind, unlike anything I had encountered before. For another, the X-Rays were... off. They..."

...Solo: "The hostile contacts just appeared from purple rifts, suggesting teleportation of some kind. But when terminated, the targets evaporated, as if they had been illusions. All shots fired were real, though and..."

...Loki: "One unusual thing I noticed about the X-Rays. Aboard the mothership, we were encountering X-Rays in mostly the same order we did over the course of the war. First sectoids, followed by thin men, then chryssalids, then floaters and mutons, finally sectopods just before the final confrontation with..."

...Sync-Two: "There was one other thing. Vendetta. Her personality had radically shifted after activating the Gollop Device. She had a grim determination she lacked on earlier missions. On earlier missions, she often cursed under fire and threw insults at the enemy as she fired. But not during this mission. Then there was..."

...Sync-One: "In retrospect, I did notice something strange about Vendetta's body language. Every time we encountered a new group of X-Rays, she glanced around, as if someone had been talking to her. During the final confrontation, I could hear psychic whispers emanating from the X-Ray leader. I didn't hear anything coherent but it's possible Vendetta did."

* * *

**Unsolved Mysteries**

_[Clearance Level: BLUE-EX]_

There are a number of questions regarding the Ethereal invasion and their technology that remain unanswered. This file is a summary of current and past unsolved mysteries.

Mystery 1: Ethereal Motives  
As the First Contact war progressed, it became evident that the Ethereals were not interested in simple conquest. As the Terror attacks began, it also became clear they wanted more than just live specimens for experimentation. The report of Operation: Avenger suggests that interfacing with the Gollop Device granted Vendetta with insight that she did not share with X-COM before her death.

Mystery 2: Ethereal FTL  
It is clear that the Ethereals had to possess some form of FTL travel in order to have gathered such a variety of enslaved species. The most popular theory proposed is that the Ethereal mothership was capable of FTL travel through psionic means, while the lesser ships were not FTL-capable. No conclusive evidence to prove or disprove this theory has ever been uncovered.

Mystery 3: EXALT Motives  
Although the paramilitary organization EXALT which sabotaged X-COM operations during the war was destroyed, their exact goals remain unclear. At first, they were believed to be willing Ethereal-collaborators. However, information revealed during Operation: Progeny suggests that they did engage Ethereal forces in order to obtain their own psionically-gifted humans. Were they a rival anti-alien force with methods far more extreme than X-COM?

Mystery 4: Vahlenite Production  
Mystery Solved. A method of manufacturing vahlenite was discovered by Dr. Shen in 2025.

Mystery 5: Meld Production  
Mystery Solved. A method of growing meld crystals was discovered by Nippon Macrogenetics in 2019.

Mystery 6: Elerium Production  
Mystery Solved. A stable, naturally-occurring isotope of Elerium was discovered on Titan in 2041. This isotope can be refined into Elerium suitable for generators and plasma weapons.

Mystery 7: Fusion Lance Technology  
Research into the Gollop Device revealed the existence of a weapon technology used in Ethereal battleships that was never recovered during the First Contact War.

Mystery 8: Gollop Activation  
Why does interacting with the Gollop device increase the psionic capabilities of humans? Were the Gollop devices merely a psionic tool of the Ethereals, or were they actually the source of their power? And why are Violet-division operatives unable to explain the functions and capabilities of the device while clearly being able to operate it without any additional training?

Mystery 9: Prothean Disappearance  
Why did the Prothean civilization disappear? Self-destruction or external force? If the latter, who or what destroyed them, and where did they go? If the Ethereals destroyed the Protheans, then why didn't the Ethereals become the dominant galactic power?

* * *

**First Contact War Technological Advances**

_[Clearance Level: WHITE]_

In general, four major scientific discoveries were made during the First Contact War. The numerous specific applications are all based on one or more of these base technologies.

Technology 1: Alien Alloys  
The metal alloys used in Ethereal spacecraft, weapons and mechs were lightweight, and yet extremely resilient. Vahlenite, as the alloy came to be known, continues to have the best weight-to-resilience ratio under the right conditions. The metal has a number of unusual properties, however. Most notably, sharp corners and edges cause tensions in the metal that dramatically reduce its' resilience. As such, armor designs involving vahlenite need to be seamless and rounded.

The production of Vahlenite starships remains a ridiculously expensive endeavor, since the entire ship needs to be a single, seamless structure to take full advantage of Vahlenite's extrordinary resilience. Instead, most designs opt to integrate seamless, rounded sections of Vahlenite into critical sections of the ship structure, while making the hull and non-critical bulkheads out of other, cheaper alloys.

Technology 2: Elerium-115  
Element 115, elerium was the power source of all known Ethereal technology. Elerium generators harvest not only the thermal energy, but also the radiation of decaying elerium and convert it into electrical energy without requiring any moving parts to transform the energy.

Another strange quality of elerium is the 'cyclic decay' effect. As elerium goes through atomic decay, it produces three waste elements. When two of these elements reach a critical mass in an elerium reactor, a fusion reaction occurs, fusing the waste material back into elerium. While this process is not lossless, it nonetheless greatly increases the amount of energy that can be drawn from any quantity of elerium.

Technology 3: Gravity Replusion Drive  
The gravity repulsion drive uses a complex and energy-intensive method to move a vessel by manipulating the gravitational effects around it. The effect was used in early interplanetary spacecraft, but has largely been replaced by vessels based on the Mass Effect.

Despite being an extremely advanced technology compared to the other advancements, the GRD has significant drawbacks. Most importantly, it is not capable of FTL travel. Secondly, gravity manipulation and mass effect fields are incompatible with each other, to the point of canceling each other out if present on the same vessel. The complexity of the technology also results in difficult and expensive production and maintenance processes compared to mass effect technology. The primary advantage of the GRD compared to a mass effect drives are superior acceleration and maneuverability and the fact that a GRD vessel does not need conventional thrusters to move.

Technology 4: Meld  
The meld substance is a smart nano-material designed to seamlessly integrate organic and synthetic materials. It was also discovered that the material can be used to quickly implement extensive genetic modifications, though it is unknown if the Ethereals used it in this capacity. Due to significant long-term side-effects, meld is no longer used for genetic modification.

Meld remains in use for MEC-integration procedures in X-COM, as well as other human militaries. MEC-s are also used in a non-military capacity in several industrial fields, most notably mining, construction and astro-engineering.

The MEC-3 Paladin developed in the final months of the FCW remains the standard for X-COM operatives and security. The MEC-4 Knight upgrade (developed in 2050) adds a vaacum-sealed life-support system and one of two computer subsystems: the SHIV Control Matrix or the Preemptive Targeting System. The MEC-5 Crusader upgrade (developed in 2073) adds one of two mass-effect technologies: the Mobile Gunnery Stabilization or the Iron Halo Barrier.

Also in service are the superheavy MEC-30 Bulwark (2158) and its' experimental MEC-35 Colossus upgrade.

Technology 5: Psionics  
The psionic ability of humans is possibly the reason for the Ethereal invasion. Psionics remain a classified technology, though all major factions of humanity have their own classified psionics programs. Though numerous fairly accurate conspiracy theories have risen since the FCW, the general public does not believe in the existence of psionics. Even so, the psionic conspiracy theories are well-known enough that most humans would not immediately disbelieve psionics if they saw them first-hand. There are four main categories and two subcategories of psionic ability.

The most common is Psi-1, which includes most of humanity as well as all Council species. Individuals rated at Psi-1 can be affected by psionic ability, but are unable to produce psionic effects on their own.

Known examples of Psi-0 and Psi-2 ratings remain too rare to establish an accurate statistical frequency.

Individuals with a Psi-0 rating are psionically inert and immune to mental psionic attacks, but not to psi-telekinesis. For unknown reasons, extensive cybernetic modification causes a Psi-0 rating. Besides MEC-operators, there are five 'natural' Psi-0 humans on record, of whom only one is currently alive.

Individuals with a Psi-2 rating are capable of subconsciously exhibiting certain esoteric psionic abilities. There are 32 Psi-2 humans on record, though the last recorded Psi-2 died of natural causes in 2159. The most common abilities among Psi-2s have been pre- and postcognition, abilities which no Psi-3 operative has exhibited. When Psi-2 individuals go through standard psionic activation, they become Psi-3 ranked, but lose their non-standard psionic abilities entirely, rather than gaining conscious control over them.

The second most common rating is Psi-3, which is individuals with the 'true' psionic gift. It is estimated that 0.1% of all humans have a Psi-3 rating. Even if the gift is not activated, Psi-3 individuals tend to be physically and mentally talented compared to their peers.

Finally, there are the Psi-3- and Psi-3+ subcategories. The rating of Psi-3- is attributed to individuals with Psi-3 potential. The rating is largely theoretical, since the only reliable test of Psi-3 potential is to subject the person to the basic Psionic activation procedure and see if they develop a Psi-3 rating.

Psi-3+ category consists of X-COM Psion-class operatives. Psion-class operatives have gone through at least one Gollop Activation and their combat capabilities are focused entirely around a variety of advanced psionic techniques.

See Also: Current X-COM Equipment & Technology  
See Also: Discontinued X-COM Equipment & Technology

* * *

**Discontinued X-COM Equipment & Technology**

_[Clearance Level: GREEN]_

The following are notable technologies that X-COM developed during the First Contact War, but has discontinued for various of reasons. NOTE: This summary does not include early-FCW technologies that were provided to X-COM by Council affiliates.

_LR-9MJ Laser Rifle  
_Description: A laser assault rifle with a 9-megajoule output produced during the First Contact War. The weapon was standard issue for X-COM security personnel from 2016 to 2030.  
Discontinuation: Expensive to produce and maintain. Initially discontinued due to financial troubles in X-COM. Return to service was considered in shortly before the discovery of the mass effect. However, since most combat squads retain a HLSW-6MJ Heavy Laser as a counter to kinetic barriers, projectile assault rifles based on mass effect technology were deemed adequate for security personnel.

_APA-6 Archangel Personal Armor  
_Description: An advanced personal armor with integrated jet-thrusters that enabled limited flight. Two units were produced in the final months of FCW, but they were never used combat against Ethereal forces.  
Discontinuation: Extremely expensive to produce and maintain. Low fuel capacity limits use in extended operations. Ultimately deemed a novelty technology with highly situational tactical usefulness. The two manufactured units were sold on the grey market in 2026.

_Lightning-class Hover SHIV  
_Description: An advanced SHIV design using a Gravity Repulsion Drive for movement. Highly mobile and resilient. An unarmed proof-of-concept prototype was created, but no combat models were produced.  
Discontinuation: Standard X-COM doctrines established the combat roles of SHIVs as recon units or as armed, mobile cover, both high-risk roles suitable for an expendable unit. The Lightning-class SHIV did not fit into the doctrine, as it was too expensive to be considered expendable and thus never entered service.

_XCOM-LRC-255 Light RailCannon  
XCOM-LRC-291 Light RailCannon_  
Description: Heavy magnetic railguns firing 255-gram and 291-gram projectiles, respectively. The 255-variant was used by MEC troopers through most of the FCW. It remained in service with MEC-troopers of White-division security personnel until 2041.  
The 291-variant was an upgrade of the earlier one and was in service in both White and Black-divisions between 2030-2060. A combined total of 1212 the railguns were sold on the grey market after the guns were retired, though some 300 guns of the 291-variant were mothballed into emergency reserve and later given to the Shanxi Milita to assist against the Turian invasion.  
Discontinuation: X-COM Black-division was trying to replace the 255-variant for the Particle Accelerator for some time, when the budget issues in 2026 forced them to adopt the 291-variant as standard, while keeping the Particle Accelerator as a special-issue weapon for high-priority missions. Meanwhile, White-divison MEC-troopers were usually issued the second-hand weapons left over from Black-divison's attempts at upgrade. Finally, both railguns were retired in 2059, in favor of the _XCOM-LRC-120ME _railgun, which made use of mass effect and heat sink technology.

_MEC-2 Sentinel  
_Description: An intermediary upgrade between _MEC-1 Warden_ and _MEC-3 Paladin_ used in the FCW.  
Discontinuation: Replaced with _MEC-3 Paladin _before the end of FCW_._

_Mimic Beacons  
_Description: Deployable psionic beacons that attracted the attention of Ethereal X-Rays.  
Discontinuation: Placed in long-term storage after FCW, as they were useless against non-Ethereal opponents.

* * *

**Current X-COM Equipment & Technology**

_[Clearance Level: WHITE]_

White Division Standard Issue Equipment

Security trooper:  
HAR-2 Heavy Assault Rifle; Prothean-derived  
APA-1 Carapace Armor; Ethereal-derived  
LP-2MJ Laser Pistol; Ethereal-derived  
_Xenon-12 _Omni-tool; Human-designed

Security MEC:  
MEC-3 Paladin; Ethereal-derived  
XCOM-LRC-120ME Railgun; Prothean-derived  
_Xenon-25_ MEC Omni-tool; Human-designed

Security SHIV:  
Chassis: Goliath-class Alloy SHIV; Ethereal-derived  
Armament: HLSW-6MJ-SHIV Heavy Laser; Ethereal-derived  
VI: Build 2151-SA (Semi-Autonomous); Human-designed

White Division Specialist Issue Equipment:_  
To be issued at the discretion of local White Division CO  
_Fragmentation Grenades; Human-designed  
Flechette Grenades; Human-designed  
Gas Grenades; Human-designed  
Plasma Grenades; Ethereal-designed  
HLSW-6MJ Heavy Laser; Ethereal-derived  
Alloy Cannon; Ethereal-derived (Limited Supply)  
Medkits; Human-designed  
APA-1B Carapace Armor w/tactical rigging; Ethereal-derived  
APA-1D Carapace Armor w/vacuum seals; Ethereal-derived

_[Clearance Level: VIOLET]_

Violet Division Standard Issue Equipment:

Psion-class Operative:  
Plasma Pistol; Ethereal-designed  
APA-5 Psi-Armor; Ethereal-derived  
_Xenon-12_ Omni-tool; Human-designed

Violet-Division Specialist Issue Equipment:  
_To be issued at the discretion of local Operations Officer_  
Mind Shield; Ethereal-derived (Limited Supply)  
Plasma Grenades; Ethereal-designed  
_Xenon-18_ Omni-tool

_[Clearance Level BLACK]_

_(The woman skips the equipment lists for regular black division soldiers. However, something on the last page catches her eye. She hadn't paid close attention to SHIV loadouts before.)_

MEC-Operative:  
MEC-3 Paladin; Additional subsystems Ethereal-derived;  
MEC-3B Paladin; Variant with vacuum sealed operator cabin, otherwise identical to basic Paladin.  
XCOM-LRC-120ME Railgun; Prothean-derived  
Xenon-25-9 MEC Omni-tool

Recon SHIV:  
Chassis: Goliath-class Alloy SHIV; Ethereal-derived  
Armament: HLSW-6MJ-SHIV Heavy Laser; Ethereal-derived  
VI: Build 2167-FA (Fully Autonomous); Human-designed

Support SHIV:  
Chassis: Goliath-class Alloy SHIV; Ethereal-derived  
Armament: HLSW-6MJ-SHIV Heavy Laser; Ethereal-derived  
VI: Build 2167-NCRC (Network-Coordinated Remote-Controlled); Human-designed

* * *

Looking through this list of equipment, the commander's mind drifts to how these units were deployed against the batarians. Groups of 3 or 5 support SHIVs, controlled by a Knight or a Crusader. With a disdainful smirk, she recalls a killing field filled with dozens of charred batarian corpses; cowardly aliens who died believing they could easily overcome a single MEC supported by just a handful of "dumb drones" with their superior numbers.

* * *

Black Division Specialist Issue Equipment:  
_To be issued at the discretion of local Operations Officer_  
MEC-1 Warden; Baseline MEC system, Ethereal-derived; Used for training purposes only  
MEC-4 Knight; Additional subsystems Human-designed  
MEC-5 Crusader; Additional subsystems Prothean-derived  
MEC-30 Bulwark; Ethereal-derived  
MEC-35 Colossus; Additional subsystems Prothean-derived  
Particle Accelerator; Ethereal-derived  
Alloy Cannon; Ethereal-derived  
Heavy Plasma; Ethereal-designed  
SHIV Heavy Plasma; Ethereal-derived  
Plasma Rifle; Ethereal-designed  
Plasma Sniper Rifle; Ethereal-derived  
Ghost Grenades; Ethereal-derived (Limited Supply)  
Flechette Grenades; Human-designed  
Plasma Grenades; Ethereal-designed  
APA-4 Ghost Armor; Ethereal-derived

* * *

**Contact Aftermath Period** (2015-2019)

_[Clearance Level: WHITE] _

Despite the victory, the Ethereal invasion had caused a significant loss of life. It is estimated that approximately 1.7 billion people were abducted and/or killed by the X-Rays during the war. The death tolls were heaviest in China, which saw a massive increase in incursions shortly after it withdrew from the X-COM project. Similar spikes of X-Ray activity had occurred in Russia and India after their withdrawal, though these spikes of activity were statistically much less significant due to the rapid increase of X-Ray activity worldwide.

Following the victory, X-COM released several technologies with peaceful applications to the remaining member governments of the Council. The weapon technologies were deemed too dangerous to be released, and the refusal to release them caused a great deal of tension between the Council and X-COM. The released technologies were Elerium power generators, Meld (but not gene-mods), Alien Alloys (later named Vahlenite), an unweaponized version of the MEC-1 Warden, and Anti-Gravity propulsion.

During the Aftermath period, the methods of manufacturing Meld and Vahlenite were yet to be discovered and the materials used were mostly recovered from the crashed debris of the alien mothership, or bought from the grey market at exorbitant prices.

The war also had a significant impact on the geopolitical dynamics of Earth. Most notably, China fell into a sharp decline. In part because of the heavy death toll, but more importantly because numerous public accusations of alien collaboration against the Chinese government led to internal turmoil as well as international isolation. Similar problems, though to a far more manageable extent, were faced by Russia and India.

In 2018, the NASA announced a project to establish a permanent lunar colony using the released alien technologies. The ESA (European Space Agency) announced a similar project in 2019. Both of these first colony ships would be completed and launched in 2025. A number of other governments also began looking into extraterrestrial colonization projects, many of which were successful.

Also in 2019, a method of manufacturing Meld was discovered and the first commercial meld gene therapies were released in Japan, both accomplishments by Nippon Macrogenetics. These first gene therapies were largely cosmetic in nature, allowing a person to change their skin pigmentation, as well as hair- and eye color. Even to colors not naturally possible. The testing of long-term effects for these gene therapies was woefully inadequate and even at the time, it was widely known that Nippon Macrogenetics bribed numerous officials in order to be able to come to the market before its' competitors.

* * *

**Early Solar Colonization Period **(2020-2040)

_[Clearance Level: WHITE] _  
2020 is considered to be the darkest year in X-COM history. While on long-term medical leave, an X-COM operative who had received meld gene-mods during the war died in the fourth month of her pregnancy due to an unforeseen side-effect of meld gene-mods. The effect would also occur if the father was gene-modded. A total of 114 mothers died from this side-effect before all meld genetic modification was stopped. By 2022, meld genetic modification was illegal across the world. Fortunately, it was quickly proven that MEC-pilots do not suffer from this side effect.

_[Clearance Level: BLUE] _  
The side-effect in question was that the meld substance attempted to fuse together the otherwise incompatible genetic material of the mother and the fetus, causing the death of both. [REDACTED].

Author Comment: I've seen the pictures and I can assure you, there is nothing to be gained, from a scientific standpoint or otherwise, from further examination of the gruesome results of this particular meld side-effect. The remainder of this report is hereby sealed, only to be reopened with the Commander's approval on a case-by-case basis. -Dr. Sokolov

_[Clearance Level: WHITE]_

Later in the same year, X-COM also experienced an internal incident. Forty-three gene-modded operatives in the Black and Violet divisions attempted a coup of the organization. The coup turned violent and was ultimately (and narrowly) suppressed by MEC-troopers, White-division security personnel and the only two unmodded Violet-division operatives: Colonels Sync-1 and Sync-2.

In the aftermath of the Gene Purge, as the incident came to be known, it was revealed that all gene-modded operatives were suffering from increasing mental instability, most notably a superiority complex toward unmodded humans. The conspiracy had formed in mid-2015 and gene-modded violet-division operatives had been using their psionic abilities to suppress unfavorable psychological evaluations.

Shortly after the Gene Purge, Dr. Vahlen committed suicide.

_[Clearance Level: EYES ONLY:COMMANDER] _

In the two years following the Gene Purge, X-COM operatives tracked down and neutralized all 1409 civilians who had received meld-based gene mods from Nippon Macrogenetics.

Over the decades since the Gene Purge, X-COM has also dealt with 13 meld-based military genetic modification programs, 3 of them funded by large corporate entities and 10 by world governments.

* * *

_So... X-COM has been doing what needed to be done for a long time._ The woman thought to herself, slightly surprised at this classified revelation. Though she admitted that she has ordered much worse against Batarian civilians.

As she continues reviewing the files, Vigilance addresses her. "Commander, ship records indicate that you have been awake for 24-hours. I recommend that you take a few hours to rest before continuing. Your exhaustion would be detrimental if an emergency arose that required your attention."

The spontaneous input of the VI was unexpected, to say the least. Though the idea of a VI 'babysitting' her in such a manner was unwelcome, she quickly realized that the VI was right. She did need to be rested in the event of an emergency. With that, she closed the console and retired to the commander's quarters across the hall for the evening.

* * *

**Author's Note:**

So. Here's the first chapter of this crossover. The story was, in short, inspired by a lack of X-COM/Mass Effect crossovers in which the humans _don't _immediately curbstomp the Council/Turians. I'm pretty sure the chapter is already the longest I've ever written, so I'll take a break here.

A couple of things I know I'll be asked about. First, _X-COM: The Bureau_ is not canon for this story. Mostly because I've never played it and I don't intend to waste my money on it.

As far as Gene-modding goes, well, it looks like Dr. Shen was right to be cautious about experimenting with Ethereal technology that humanity didn't fully understand. As mentioned above, gene-modding with Meld is illegal, and X-COM has shut down such initiatives in the past.

Whether or not Shepard is in X-Com is a plot point in one of the later Pre-ME1 chapters, and I won't spoil it, so don't bother asking.


End file.
